San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is kissed by a supporter as the March for Marriage rally ends outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in June. Speakers at the rally and march promoted the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, and pushed back against the notion that public opinion is heavily in favor of revoking restrictions against gay marriage.

Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick / Special To The Chronicle

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is kissed by a...

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Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is seen at the Archdiocese of San Francisco on Thursday, June 6, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is seen at the Archdiocese of San...

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March organizer Brian Brown (left) of the National Organization for Marriage joins Cordileone in prayer across from the Supreme Court.

Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick, Special To The Chronicle

March organizer Brian Brown (left) of the National Organization for...

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Participants gather on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington for the March for Marriage rally.

Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick, Special To The Chronicle

Participants gather on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in...

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On the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, participants at the march listen to a speaker at the March for Marriage rally, which protested same-sex marriages.

Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick, Special To The Chronicle

On the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, participants at the march...

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San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, right, with Brian Brown, left, march organizer and president of the National Organization of Marriage, leads a prayer as participants in the March for Marriage gather across from the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 19, 2014. Speakers at the rally and march promoted the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, and pushed back against the notion that public opinion is heavily in favor of revoking restrictions against gay marriage. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Special to The Chronicle)

Washington -- - Kneeling on the sidewalk across from the U.S. Supreme Court, San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop led several thousand protesters Thursday in prayer against same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was the star attraction of a rally in Washington organized by National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown, the nation's leading opponent of same-sex marriage. Brown tapped Cordileone as the first speaker at the event and had him lead the group in prayer after a march from the west front of the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court steps.

The archbishop's attendance was controversial in San Francisco, where officials including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Ed Lee and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed letters urging Cordileone not to participate.

Vatican approval cited

Cordileone told the crowd at Thursday's March for Marriage that he has "the support of Pope Francis for what we are doing today," citing approval by the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See to the United States, the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Washington. Cordileone chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops subcommittee for the promotion and defense of marriage.

The rally drew predominantly Latino and African American protesters from New York, New Jersey, Virginia and other nearby states, numbering in the low thousands at its peak. Throngs of couples and children spent several hours in sweltering heat listening to speakers, many of them pastors, declare that marriage should be limited to unions of one man and one woman for the sake of children.

Former Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee also addressed the protesters. Santorum argued that traditional marriage is good for the economy because "every marriage is a little business."

Cordileone told demonstrators that "every child comes from a mother and a father, and to deliberately deprive a child of knowing and being loved" by them is "outright injustice."

"This is our very nature; no law can change it," he said.

Abortion comparison

He compared the fight over same-sex marriage, where opponents appear to be losing ground daily, to abortion in the 1970s, when the procedure appeared to be gaining widespread acceptance.

But because "a small band of believers held the line on the sanctity of life in the womb," Cordileone said, opposition to abortion grew. Now, he declared, there exists "the most pro-life generation since Roe vs. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Cordileone predicted that public opinion on same-sex marriage would follow a similar trajectory so that eventually "people will figure out that a child comes from a father and mother."

Cordileone's security detail blocked a reporter from interviewing the prelate during the walk to the court as the crowd was led in a chant of, "One man, one woman."

Joel Feliz, a protester from New York, said he came to the event "praying to God to see if he can do a miracle" and reverse the movement in states and federal courts to legalize same-sex marriage.

'Part of the sad walk'

Barry Wood, 62, of Richmond, Va., said that once marriage is redefined to be "just about love, then you can make marriage anything you want: three men, four women, anything."

He said he was not surprised by the decline in what he called Judeo-Christian ethics, linking same-sex marriage with abortion and the removal of prayer from schools.

"It's all part of the sad walk into post-Christian society," Wood said. "We're trying to hang on to it."